Healthy Habits

What is Calcium-D-Glucarate?

Submitted by Robb Bird on Sun, 08/12/2018 - 11:36

Your liver works hard for you. Even if you don’t drink alcohol or work amongst harsh chemicals, the toxins you inadvertently breathe, eat, drink, and even slather on your skin are a burden on your liver and this can start to take its toll on your energy and performance over time. Environmental toxins can even mess with your hormone balance and make it hard for you to lose fat.

Your liver is always filtering toxins – that’s its job. But there are some things you can do to support this process. Which brings us to one of the most targeted supplements for everyday detox: calcium-d-glucarate (CDG).

It can decrease your LDL cholesterol, assist in protein digestion, and remove toxins and excess estrogen. Excess estrogen is a problem for everyone, but an even bigger problem for obese (or formerly obese) people.

To understand why CDG works, you have to understand a little biochemistry.

How the Body Gets Rid of Toxins

One process is called conjugation. During conjugation, toxins are packaged into water-soluble compounds called glucuronides. Glucuronides usually are meant to pass into the gut where they are excreted. However, there is an enzyme called beta-glucuronide that can inhibit this process if its levels are higher than normal. This enzyme separates toxins from their conjugate bond and allows them to be reabsorbed back into our system and the toxins keep circulating in the body where they make us tired, fat, unhealthy and weak.

Calcium-d-glucarate can prevent beta-glucuronide from disturbing this metabolic process. It keeps the toxins bound inside a glucuronide which is then removed from the body. Toxins are the most damaging when they are in their free form, which is why you want them to be bound (conjugated) and excreted/released from the body. Calcium-d-glucarate inhibits beta-glucuronidase which can assist and allows toxins to be removed from our body.

There is no such thing as a deficiency of calcium-d-glucarate because it is not an essential nutrient. However, humans produce small amounts, so it’s easy to develop low levels. Small amounts are also found in fruits and vegetables. As toxin exposure has increased, humans need more calcium-d-glucarate to help excrete the extra toxins.

Reasons Calcium-d-glucarate Can Benefit You as a Supplement

1. Detoxing the Liver

When calcium-d-glucarate is taken orally, it’s metabolized into glucaric acid. This is the active form of calcium-d-glucarate and the one produced naturally by the body. Glucaric acid is not available as a supplement by itself which is why you have to take calcium-d-glucarate. Calcium–d-glucarate can detox the liver for up to five hours.

Glucaric acid binds to toxins in the stomach which are then removed in the urine. Glucaric acid is also circulated around the body where it performs the same function – scavenging and releasing toxins. Removing toxins from the liver will increase and optimize liver function and promote a healthier metabolism. It will also allow your liver to flush out other toxins that would otherwise cause problems.

2. Removing Excess Estrogen

High levels of beta-glucuronide increase the number of estrogen receptors. This means estrogen that would have been excreted is now able to bind to more receptors. This can cause increased tissue growth, inability to lose fat, and even man boobs.

Estrogen dominance is one of the leading causes of infertility, mood imbalances, and other health problems in women. One of the most common treatments for high estrogen levels are drugs that inhibit estrogen formation. These can have added side effects and aren’t really solving the problem of excess estrogen.

New research shows that CDG could be just as effective as drugs in treating estrogen dominance. CDG allows excess estrogen to be passed out of the body. A review in 2003 said calcium-d-glucarate could be as effective in preventing cancer as taking any estrogen-blocking drugs. CDG actually helps estrogen metabolism happen properly so that the bad estrogen isn't reabsorbed into the body.

In one study, calcium-d-glucarate was able to reduce the number of estrogen receptors by 48%. It’s also been shown to lower serum estrogen levels by 23%.

High estrogen is also a problem for men. Whether you're a man or woman, calcium-d-glucarate will help maintain proper hormone balance.

3. Decreasing LDL Cholesterol

Despite the numerous health effects of exercise and healthy diets, LDL levels still may not come back into the normal range. But high LDL isn’t necessarily the problem. It could be a sign of tissue damage or toxins, which are the problem.

When cells are stressed or damaged, they need cholesterol for repair. Studies have shown that high LDL levels are needed to repair damaged tissue.

The body sends LDL molecules to supply various parts of the body with cholesterol and fats. Limited blood flow is one form of stress. Calcium-d-glucarate is metabolized into glucaric salts. Glucaric salts reduce beta-glucuronidase production by gut bacteria. Reducing beta-glucuronidase enhances enterohepatic (liver) circulation which reduces cholesterol synthesis. This causes lower cholesterol levels.

In humans, CDG lowers cholesterol by 12%, and LDL cholesterol by 28%. It can also lower triglycerides up to 43%.

CDG is not arbitrarily playing with cholesterol numbers like statin drugs. It decreases stress on the liver which lowers your need for cholesterol, especially LDL cholesterol.

4. Supporting High Protein Diets

Humans are meant to eat large amounts of protein and fat. Our livers and kidney efficiently process proteins and are able to remove harmful byproducts like ammonia. However, humans can only handle so many toxins. The human body is constantly fending off toxins. This leaves very little room for dealing with the metabolites of protein. Our modern world is so polluted, that humans don’t always have the necessary means to fend off natural byproducts of a healthy metabolism. If you’re consuming a high protein diet (25-35 percent), you should consider supplementing with calcium-d-glucarate.